Michael Andretti | Birthdate: | October 5th 1962 | | | | Country: | USA  | | | | Gender: | M |
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Michael Andretti had it all going into the 1993 F1 season. Talent, Money, a famous racing last name, a dominating CART title to his name and now a ride along one of the world's best drivers in the one of Formula One's most famous teams.
Born on October 5, 1962 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Michael Andretti grew up in a racing household. His father, Mario was a rising Indy Car star in the late 60's, Winning the Indy 500 in 1969. Michael had Speed in his blood, and as Dad was out in Europe winning races and a world Champion, young teenage Michael was excelling in Go-Karts, and in 1980 he made the jump to single seaters, winning Formula Ford, Super Vee, and Formula Atlantic championships in the period between 1980 and 1983. The 21 year old Andretti was on his way to stardom as he and Roberto Moreno duked it out in the 1983 Formula Atlantic Championship as Michael won three races (Sears Point, Westwood, and Trois Rivieres) and Moreno captured four victories (Willow Springs, Montreal, Elkhart Lake, and Mosport). Andretti won the championship however and jumped into Indy Cars at the end of the season.
In 1984 Michael made his full time Indy Car debut and was a steady competitor throughout the 80's, taking his first win at Long Beach in 1986. He was becoming a recognizable star as the Flying Andretti's Michael and Mario were tearing up CART in the late 80's. Michael was second in the 1986, 1990, and 1992 Championships, and won the 1991 Championship with Newman/Haas racing. At the end of 1991 Michael was given the oppirtunity to test the 1991 Constructors championship winning McLaren-Honda and impressed. However the team decided to keep Gerhard Berger alongside Ayrton Senna and Michael returned to the US.
After his almost successful 1992 season Michael was finally give his chance at Mclaren. With Berger off th Ferrari, Ron Dennis decided to hire the American Star to partner Senna. This appeared to be a match made in heaven for the twoo sides, Michael gets a top Formua One ride, and McLaren gets an American star for marketing purposes. This appeared to be the beginning of a the next American Formula One star and marketing types were drooling at the prospect.
However 1993 was a nightmare season for Andretti as he had a series of mechanical failures, spins, petty collisions and a variety of nightmarish problems. Michael was disconnected from his team because he decided to continue to live in the United States and commute to all the races, missing the important day-to-day team atmosphere. He was by no means slow, often qualifing in the top six in the first part of the year. However stress was starting to take it's toll. Michael wasn't finishing races, he was being left behind by Senna and he was making silly mistakes. His qualifying times started to slip, despite picking up his race pace and ability to get to the end of the races. He scored his first points with a fifth place finish in Spain, but had to wait until France to get his next points.
By Britain things were starting to strain between Andretti and McLaren. He spun on the first lap at Silverstone, and had a shunt on lap four at Hockenheim the following race. Rumours of his firing were iminent as he was being outperformed by test driver Mika Hakkinen in testing and he was unhappy. Things were not going well going into the Italian GP at Monza. However Michael appeared to be picking things back up. He qualified ninth, his best since Monaco, however over a second behind Senna, and he managed to stay out of trouble. In a crash filled race Michael managed to emerge third and on the podium, despite being 41 seconds behind winner Damon Hill. It appeared he was turning the corner, however McLaren's management disagreed, sacking the American after his podium and replacing him with Hakkinen, who promptly outqualified Senna in the next race, adding further embarassment to Andretti's F1 endeavour. Michael went back to the United States and stayed away from f1.
After his one year F1 hiatous Michael was back in Indy Cars, doing what he did best in the States, winning. Collecting a victory in his first race back. He continued to be a star in the US, however failing to win another championship and failing to fulfill his boyhood dream of winning the Indy 500. He bought team Green at the end of the 2002 season and moved them to the IRL. He had one last crack at Indy in 2003, but another mechanical failure as he was running at the front ended his Indy dream once and for all. He retired in 2003 and now manages one of the best teams in the IRL, Andretti-Green Racing. His team won the Indy 500 with Dan Wheldon this year giving Michael his first Indy 500 victory, this time as an owner.
Michael Andretti, the United State's last F1 driver to date, and unfortunately he never fulfilled his full potential that brought him 42 CART victories, and the 1991 CART title.
Statistics
| Statistic | # | Percentage | First | Last |
| Number of Grand Prix | 13 | 100% |  1993 |  1993 |
| Number of starts | 13 | 100.00% | 1993 | 1993 |
| Number of finishes | 6 | 46.15% |  1993 | 1993 |
| Number of finishes on podium | 1 | 7.69% | 1993 | 1993 |
| Number of finishes in points | 3 | 23.08% | 1993 | 1993 |
| Number of retirements | 7 | 53.85% | 1993 |  1993 |
